Supervisor of Elections sues church for polling place injury
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton has filed a lawsuit against Gateway Christian Center after she shattered her kneecap and broke her arm in a fall at the church while delivering election materials. She is requesting damages in excess of $50,000.
According to the complaint filed on March 20, Barton fell on October 22, 2022, while delivering election materials to the church at 5135 NW 21st Street. While walking into the building, Barton’s foot reportedly caught on a screw that was used secure artificial turf to stairs near the entry. Barton tripped and fell, shattering her kneecap, breaking her arm, and requiring her to miss work for an extended period of time due to recovery from surgery.
Barton referred us to her attorney, Dan Glassman, who said that the building management knew that the screws protruded above the turf and had failed to repair the hazard. Glassman said a jury will determine the amount of any award, and any money awarded will go toward reimbursing the County for Barton’s medical expenses and the cost of her time off work and then toward any future medical care that may be needed. Barton still requires physical therapy for her injuries and walks with a cane.
Gateway Christian Church could not be reached for comment.
I am pretty sure she is covered by workers com if so she doesn’t have the right to sue
She is a constitutional officer: I don’t think she is technically a county employee.
Her eyeglasses maybe steamed up from wearing a mask. She should sue the CDC and Fauci too.
I fell during covid, steamed up glasses were a factor.
Did they do a drug test within 24 hours? Like every single county employee is required to do after an injury? County Big Dog is a delivery girl?
Her blood is probably full of spike proteins and SSRI’s like every other public servant around here.
What time of the day/night did this happen? She shouldn’t have been doing that type of work if she did not have worker’s comp coverage in force. Not wanting to utilize workers comp insurance because you don’t want to take a drug test is not a cause of action for a lawsuit.
If the church was negligent she still has every right to sue, no matter her insurance.
No she doesn’t unless the law has changed I was injured on the 8 years ago patients rotted porch fell in as we were moving her on a stretcher injured my right knee was told since I was a county employee and was covered by workers com I didnt have the right to sue
You can still sue the third party tortfeasor, fyi. Workers’ comp will then have a lien on the proceeds of that third party case. So, if work comp pays for you to be treated and you also sued the homeowner and got money from their insurance, then workers’ comp would get some of that money back from you – so you can’t “double dip”.
You need to watch wear you’re stepping. I bet she steps in a lot of dog poop too….
Even the elected officials in Gainesville are trying to hit the ghetto lottery. Imagine GRU employees suing homeowners every time they tripped on someone’s property. County workman’s comp should be paying for this, and that should be it.
Still, it does seem kinda strange that the county supervisor of elections would be doing intern-level delivery duties. I’m sorry about her injuries, they sound upsetting, but “Somethin’ don’t pass the smell test on this.”
I’m happy she delivers the ballots because then she’s responsible if any go “missing” or augmented mysteriously later.
She wasn’t delivering ballots duh
She may have missed work but she didn’t miss a paycheck. She’s salaried and 1/2 of county employees are working from home…at least they claim to be.
I guess this could be one way to pad a person’s retirement. Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t proceeds from suits and insurance claims tax exempt?
I wonder how many people walked that same path without busting ass and blaming others.
This shows her true character….looking for an unearned payday.
She’s no better than the ambulance chasing attorney she hired…they are cut from the same cloth…a parasitic cloth.
She’s no better than the felons in jail that her office coerced into illegally registering to vote.
What happened with any investigation regarding how voters were automatically reenrolled to vote by mail last election.
She’s in way over her head and she knows it. She’ll be a scapegoat and she seemingly deserves it.
She’s Miss “Elections is Hard!” in case anyone forgot. She has Arreola’s roommate/companion working for her, in charge of tabulating votes. I’m sure he could pull one over on her if he wanted to (or maybe he has already).
A true leftist grifter indeed.
I hope the church’s lawyer is looking into the other times she has fallen. When I was a poll worker, there were two other episodes that I recall. Maybe she’s just clumsy.
Maybe she should have been wearing a helmet or something if she falls down all the time(?) Or – seriously – she should have let someone else handle those duties if she knows she is prone to injury on other people’s property. The county should and probably does have insurance that should have covered it, even if she elected not to use it so she could sue the church like a good leftist.
Mailing those materials would have been faster & cheaper.
She was a college basketball player. She does wear high heels…
Them harvested mail ballots is heavy.
She is pathetic! She is clumsy so sue church for falling down! I have NO respect for these sue happy people. They are the problem with our legal system.
A person’s greed is inversely proportional to one’s character…or so I’ve been told.
She’s covered under the county insurance plan so I’m fairly confident medical bills were covered. A suit in excess of 50k? That’s a lot of greed.
Maybe she tripped, because she was possibly carrying pre-filled (D) votes she was delivering to the machines. Perhaps she was about to get caught.
Well….you know what they say….The bigger they are….the harder they fall.
Could it be she was so enamored by the Zuckerberg money that she tripped and fell. Pride goeth before a fall!
That’s tragic no matter who or where. I hope the church has good insurance and Kim recovers fully. The billboard lawyer better not take too much of a cut or he’ll be disbarred, Kim should say.
According to one news outlet she broke her ” pinky finger” not her arm. ???
So given the fact that she was delivering voting supplies one must assume that the church was a polling place. I am pretty sure that the church is paid to host, but it also a good mechanism to get people on church property and create goodwill. If the Supervisor of Elections will sue you why would anyone take that risk? Logically this will have a chilling effect on places willing to host as a polling place. I understand that they are already struggling to have enough precincts.
How many thousands upon thousands of people have entered this house of worship over the years and found a way to not trip over this nail or whatever it was?!?! Maybe this woman should look in the mirror and ask herself why it is that the ONE time she visits this church she has such an unfortunate incident.
I have seen her on many occasions wearing high heels that TOO high for work.
Where is Chris Chestnut when you need him?
I think that ‘certain actions you take’ (especially when people or facilities are extending their services) says something about your character OR lack thereof!
I know for a fact that someone from the elections committee goes over to the facility to make you it is appropriate to be used before the election. If there was a problem, why did Barton report that to the church so it could be fixed?
Her attorney said any money received will go to the County to reimburse them for medical expenses, her time off, etc. If that is true, why isn’t the County part of the lawsuit?
County isn’t suing.
It’s very interesting how everyone has posted negative comments about the SOE and nothing about if the church has taken responsibility for their negligence. The SOE was doing her job as a constitutional officer, but did anyone from the church reach out to her to right their wrong or at least just to make sure she was ok? It’s very easy to point the finger at someone you find fault in, for no valid reason, and not hold the right individuals accountable. He who is without sin cast the first stone.
Key words constitutional officer she is covered by workers com they paid her bills and since she is a salary employee, she got 100% of her Pay and not 66 2/3
I hope all she gets is the bill from her ambulance , chasing lawyer
What Christian person sues a church?